Eli5 Why can’t we just create rain clouds for the western half of the U.S. that is going through a drought?

Question

I’ve heard of the term cloud seeding. Why can’t we create rain clouds and position them in the parts of the US that are going through droughts? It’s not like the water is disappearing from earth, it’s just displacing in other parts of the world

In: 10

Answer 1

During a drought, there’s just not enough water in the air to seed clouds. Most of the time, cloud seeding is like wringing water out of a slightly damp sponge in that you’ll probably get some to drip out. During a drought, the air is much dryer, so it’s more like trying to wring water out of a sponge that’s dried out overnight.